A team from the Elections Office is visiting the Lau Group of Islands from tomorrow to display the National Register of Voters and to encourage new voter registrations.

They will be joined by staff from the Births, Deaths and Marriages Office, who will encourage anyone whose birth has not been officially registered to come forward and do so.

The Minister for Justice and Elections, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said that the Bainimarama Government is committed to providing these important services to people living in isolated communities, who normally do not have easy access to them.

Fijians in the Lau Group will be able to check their entries in the Nation Register of Voters and those not yet registered to vote, including those who have recently turned 18, will be able to do so.

While the team from the Elections Office carries out its work, the team from the Births, Deaths and Marriages Office will be encouraging Fijians to register any unrecorded births.

This includes not only children but adults who may not have been registered at birth and as a consequence, don’t have marriage certificates because these require a birth certificate.

The Government is also concerned that many deaths in isolated areas are not being formally registered.

“It is important for Fijians to register their births so that they can have easier access to vital government services such as health care and education,” the Attorney-General said.

He stressed that no blame was being attached to anyone who had not registered because the Government recognised that this was often a product of isolation and the neglect of past governments.

“By contrast, the Bainimarama Government has made it a top priority to bring Government services closer to Fijians living in rural and maritime communities, and this tour of the Lau Group is an example of that commitment,” he said.

The first stop on the tour is Cicia Island tomorrow (Monday January 13th).

The tour will then travel to the following locations in the Lau Group:

As you know, the Bainimarama Government is working very hard to build a new Fiji. Basically on the foundations of what one may call an unstable system.

We are going about this in a very specific and measured manner—we are laying the foundation – a new foundation I would say – of a modern nation, and we have to get it right.

As surveyors, your job is to get it right. You calculate the exact measurements needed to lay the foundations of growth, establish the legal boundaries of land ownership and collect and analyze critical information about our natural resources. If you don’t get it right, all that follows becomes flawed.

The nation, of course, depends on you whilst you may be very much in the background, although most Fijians are probably not aware of the absolute critical nature of your work. However, your importance to Fiji is more than just the important job you do. You are part of a much larger picture, of a larger effort to build a better Fiji.

Put simply, we need to keep talented and highly skilled individuals in Fiji. We must aggressively tackle the issue of brain drain, and retain professionals Fiji needs to fuel our reform program.

We’re building a better future, and we need to get it right. Our reform policies are working – some perhaps need to be addressed further – our incentives are attractive, and we strive for transparence. However, in order to attract and generate investment that will continue to grow the economy, Fiji must have ranks of top level professionals on the ground. We always talk about the need for lawyers, electricians, bankers, accountants, managers, construction workers – now there’s a shortage of plumbers I understand – engineers, doctors, and nurses.

And, of course we need you. We are striving to get it right, and in this the Surveyor’s role is unique and indispensible. Surveyors, you are vital to reform in Fiji, and we of course need your help.

Our reforms will amount to little unless you feel part of it, unless you engage with it, unless you add to it.

What’s happening in Fiji is truly a team effort.

Everyone on the team must do their part to get it right. We will soon have a constitution in place. This comes after we travelled around the country and heard the views of ordinary Fijians, which have been taken into account as we’ve prepared the final draft. Which is going to be translated into the vernacular languages before it is actually assented to.

The constitution will include – for the first time – specific socio-economic rights – which was alluded to by the president – which guarantee each Fijian’s rights, such as the right to work, the right to a just minimum wage, housing, sanitation, the right to economic participation, and the right to transportation.

All of these have a spill-over effect into the work you are doing yourselves.

Next year we will vote—for the first time—in a truly democratic parliamentary election. One in which each of your votes will count equally—one person, one vote, one value.

On the economic front, we are in the midst of transforming the economy— dramatically lowering taxes for almost all Fijians.

Many of you might not know, but the tax cuts that you have been enjoying – 90.5% of Fijians received a tax cut. Every single person who earns – who was earning or is earning – below $275,00 has got a tax cut.

And for businesses we’ve lowered the corporate tax to 20% and 17.5% for those companies that establish their regional or global head office in Fiji. ANZ is already doing that. They’re moving their regional head office from Melbourne to Suva.

We’ve committed ourselves to introducing international best-practices across a broad front, as well as to rooting out corruption wherever we find it.

Why are we doing this? Because we want to generate more growth, more jobs, and more business.

We’ve created tax free zones across the country to attract investment in agriculture – more growth, more jobs, more business.

We’ve abolished import duty for plant machinery and agricultural implements and reduced duty for imports of equipment used to produce renewal energy – more growth, more jobs, more business. The mobile phones you’re using now – zero rated duty on all smart phones.

Next week, we have the 4G auction. So within one year’s time many of the urban centres in Fiji will be able to access high-speed internet information, you’ll be able to send your client a lot more quickly and in an effective manner through these smart phones and iPads. Now this again is putting us further out compared to all the other Pacific Island countries.

We’ve embarked on a series of reforms to make doing business in Fiji more conducive for investors.

In the past few years, there has been a need to develop clear and transparent rules and regulations pertaining to licensing, to consumer protection, to ensuing true competition and preventing anti-competitive behavior.

To get it right, one of the principle tenets of the Bainimarama Government is that such policies need to be consistent and durable.

Effective reform can only succeed through an effective partnership between the public and private sectors. And we need your partnership to carry out our goals.

I know many of you are in the private sector also. We’re talking about public-private partnerships. You’ve got the Fiji Roads Authority that was created. Now all the roads in Fiji are essentially maintained by private companies working in conjunction with a public statutory body.

This is more than just an ideal. Such partnerships now exist and are being formed in our most important areas of infrastructure.

The other example is Ports Fiji. If you look at Ports Terminal across the bay there. We’ve now engaged the services of Aitkens Spence. It’s a fortune 200 company outside the USA. It’s going to bring in best management practices for running a port. That is critical, but it also brands Fiji.

The Bainimarama Government takes a holistic view of the economy, and we also take a long-term view. In other words, policies are put in place not just for today or tomorrow for short term political gain. They’re designed for the long haul and our goal of creating jobs, stimulating economic growth, and creating more business opportunities for professionals like you. For example, Government’s policy of outsourcing.

So I return to my earlier point. We need to continue to build on our strengths to make Fiji an attractive place, not only for investment, but for professionals from all sectors.

We can only do this together, in partnership. And we have to get it right. We need to be committed to the same principles of anticorruption, transparency, and best practice. This is the vision we must share for the future of Fiji. And just as the surveyor’s measurements, we have to get it right. And with your help, we will.

Ladies and Gentlemen, with those few words, I would like to conclude my formal address and open the floor to questions.

The statement by the Australian Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, that Fiji is “diminished” by not accepting a nomination for the position of Australian High Commissioner in Suva is gratuitous and unwarranted.

How is Fiji diminished? It is exercising its sovereign right like all other countries do in approving, as a host country, a nominee of another country for a diplomatic mission.

The statement indicates, yet again, that Australia’s attitude to Fiji is prescriptive and highhanded. Rather than deal with Fiji as an equal, it expects our country to say “yes” to everything Australia proposes.

Fijians have a wonderful relationship with ordinary Australians, who we regard as valued friends. All of which makes it disappointing that the Australian Government refuses to engage in a constructive manner.

The Bainimarama Government is creating the first genuine parliamentary democracy in Fiji’s history next year of one person, one vote, one value and the removal of the legal enforcement of ethnic voting. All of the former major political parties are registered to contest the elections in September 2014. The Bainimarama Government has consistently said that the 2014 elections will be free, fair and transparent, unlike previous ones.

We again invite Canberra to participate in that process and put aside their unwarranted posturing.

FIJI is positioning itself to be a modern nation state that is undergoing enormous changes, says the Attorney General and Minister for Industry and Trade, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

Speaking at the 15th Fiji Muslim Sports Federation which comprises of Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America (FANCA), Mr Sayed-Khaiyum told former Fiji residents that there were many changes taking place under the reforms currently implemented by government.

“In Fiji, under the (Josaia) Bainimarama Government, we are going through enormous transformation, enormous reformation and that is to correct many of the injustices of the past, not just to modernise our laws but to also modernise our infrastructure,” he said.

The Minister urged the former residents to participate and contribute to the changes that are taking place in the country.

“For those of you who have not visited Fiji for a while, many physical changes are taking place around you. Whether it is road upgrades, whether its airport upgrades or whether it’s in terms of providing various benefits, that will improve the day to day living of ordinary Fijians.”

He also highlighted that allowing dual and multiple-citizenships to former Fiji citizens, provides the importunity for them to contribute to their homeland.

After the launching, FANCA’s four-day tournament commenced today at Nadi’s Prince Charles Park where sports such volleyball, golf and tug of war will be played.